The NBM hopes that a good harvest this year, even in a situation of low prices for products, will allow farmers to solve their problems and will not create the problem of massive default on loans by agribusinesses.
The National Bank Governor Octavian Armasu stated this while answering questions within the Economic Press Club after the presentation of the third Inflation Report of this year at the NBM. He noted that the NBM realizes the existence of problems for agricultural producers. On the one hand, the agrarians have had a record harvest, but on the other hand, there is a not very healthy price situation in the region due to problems with the export of Ukrainian grain. At the same time, world grain prices have recently increased again due to problems with export of grain from Ukraine. Octavian Armasu said that the National Bank looks at the situation from the banks' stability prospective and does not see signals from banks about a significant increase of unfavorable credits in the agricultural sector, and will continue to closely monitor the situation. The NBM head said that in most banks, the credit portfolio is well diversified, the share of credits in the agricultural sector is modest and, even in the worst scenario, this should not lead to serious problems for Moldovan banks, especially for banks of systemic importance. "But we are watching the evolution of this share of loans. We hope for the normalization of the situation and the possibility of sales of agricultural products grown by agrarians. The record harvest, even if sold at current prices, allows us to count on positive dynamics, growth in the third and fourth quarters," Octavian Armasu emphasized. // 15.08.2023 - InfoMarket.
